Stephen Colbert - Cheating Death... Through Placebos

Stephen reports that Camel technology develops new ways to deliver disgusting carcinogens into your body without the tedious need to light up and look cool in the process, but, as one might suspect, Camel can't compete with Prescott Pharmaceuticals' more direct delivery system. It's a case of fight gas with smoke :)

And researchers think placebos are becoming more efficient?!?

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Cheating Death - Snus & Placebo Effect
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Michael Moore

Prescott's supositories give second-hand-smoke a whole new meaning, don't they? :)
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Visions of the Future: The Quantum Revolution

There seems to be a natural progression from complete bewilderment to understanding to the need to manipulate and find practical applications for the scientific discoveries we make. Sometimes there is also the stage of speculation whereby we take our current knowledge of physical laws and imagine the possibilities open to us by such discoveries. Sometimes what we get out of that is science fiction, sometimes real science. Of course, it doesn’t follow logically that something is practically attainable merely from the fact that it’s physically possible, and there’s the rub.

In the following episode of the documentary series Visions of the Future, theoretical physicist and futurist Michio Kaku explores some of the most recent feats to come out of the study and manipulation of atoms and the quantum world (superconductivity, nanotechnology, teleportation, invisibility, quantum entanglement, nuclear fusion, etc.) and meditates on what the future of humanity might look like when and if these discoveries are applied in mass scale and at the macro level.

Is Kaku merely blithely optimistic or is he a true visionary? I don't really know... I have my own suspicions about this, but I’ll let you decide for yourself.

If you are interested in the philosophical implications of teleportation on the question of personal identity, you should check out the excellent documentary series Brainspotting, with Ken Campbell.

And if you are interested in understanding superconductivity and the scientific race to reach absolute zero temperature, here is the documentary for you (parts 1 and 2).
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Alcoholic Monkeys

There may be some things that separate humans from the rest of the animal world: symbolic language perhaps, the systematic accumulation and expansion of knowledge transmitted through countless generations maybe, philosophy, and why not throw metacognition (the recursive ability to think about thinking) in the mix as well for good measure?

One area in which we are literally no better than monkeys, however, is in our appreciation of margaritas and mojitos. We primates loves us some drinky drinky, and we will do whatever it takes to get our fix. Oh, and that's just the beginning of our similarities, as you are about to find out in this hilarious and informative video clip.

Check out a bunch of drunk animals, and the hilarious effects of drugs on spiders.
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Cosmos: Traveller's Tales

Humans like to travel. We are driven to discovery by an instinct of curiosity we simply can't fight. We did it in previous centuries, eventually populating every corner of the globe, and we are still doing it now, visiting and studying planets that just a few centuries ago seemed to be nothing more than pretty lights in the infinitely distant sky.

Drawing on the history of human travel, and concentrating on the social and political conditions that gave rise to the intellectual progress made in Holland during the beginning of the Enlightenment with figures like Huygens and Leeuwenhoek, not to mention all the great thinkers who found refuge for their daring and revolutionary new ideas there, Carl Sagan meditates on the lessons we can still learn today about how to ensure the continuation of our own intellectual and scientific success. This, of course, is all part of his classic documentary series, Cosmos.

If you want to learn more about the fascinating story behind the golden records carried on the Voyager missions, check out this amazing RadioLab interview with Anne Druyan, Carl Sagan's widow.

And if you're thinking the name Leeuwenhoek sounds familiar, it's probably because you learned about his discovery of sperm here.
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The Interwebs As Random Acts of Kindness

Today’s TEDTalk is an awesome treat on at least two separate levels: first, it describes, very optimistically and with great humor, the great possibilities for spontaneous human communion and cooperation enabled by the interwebs and, second, it is being presented, quite uncharacteristically, by an attorney who does not seem to want to make a quick buck out of it by suing someone :)

Ah, the internet... Sure, you can always focus on the negatives. There is plenty of animosity and vitriol found on blog forums, horrible spelling all over Facebook (only lolcats should get away with it), unscrupulous con artists trying to ‘give away’ their Nigerian fortunes, entire nations attempting to censor information that makes them look like dicks, unsolicited emails promising bigger boobs and penises, and ubiquitous spambots crawling the web attempting to wreak multiple forms of havoc.

Yet, against all odds, the internet doesn’t merely survive: it thrives. Jonathan Zittrain argues, quite persuasively, that this is because individuals from all sorts of backgrounds decide to volunteer their time and skills in pursuit of goals larger than their own particular needs and opinions, without having to be solicited or prompted, and he’s got some funny and touching examples to make his case.

Despite the multiple ways in which corporations sell their souls in order to achieve higher ratings and larger profits, the intertubes survive because individuals still seem to be driven by a personal sense of purpose, citizenship and genuine altruism. Hey, maybe that’s what this blog is all about! :)

And if you want to learn more about the ways in which the Web 2.0 revolution is bringing people together, you simply must watch this fascinating lecture on the anthropology of youtube.
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Missionary Positions - The Porn Pastors

I have blogged about the porn pastors before. They are a couple of young evangelical ministers whose mission is to help, not condemn, those negatively affected by porn, from ordinary people whose relationships and reputations have been destroyed to porn stars who may want a way out of the industry (for whatever reason).

One could perhaps make the case that these two quixotic heroes are deluded, not only because they believe in invisible beings (or hear things in the shower) or because they are fighting a battle against an industry that feeds on people's unquenchable desires, but because our collective social response to porn is not an expression of moral enlightenment but a projection of our puritanical and repressive sexual attitudes.

Still, though they might misunderstand the problem and confuse the symptom for the disease, one thing is clear: their hearts are in the right place and they are trying to help.

Anyway, this hilarious documentary tells their story.

Oh, and you will also listen to the most hilarious etymology of the words 'testament' and 'testify' you have ever heard. And before you go thinking 'that is ridiculous,' check with your local philologist. She's not that far from the truth... :)

Extra points to whoever can name the chick that grabs the bunny's butt :)

And before you go judging, just remember:


I just love this quote:

People have said 'Does it bother you that he goes to the porn shows? Are you scared that he goes?' I'm not stupid. I'm not going to let my husband go to Las Vegas with Mike to a porn show. Who do you think is in the bunny suit?

Gotta love those expressions of love, trust and faith :)
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Oliver Sacks - What Hallucinations Reveal about Our Minds

I don't think I have ever had a hallucination, unless this is it, and while I'm glad that puts me square in the middle of the 'normal' and non-diseased mental spectrum, sometimes it does make me wonder whether I don't hallucinate because my bullshit detector is too strong to fool itself (fat chance!) or because my brain is just not creative enough to fool around and take off on its own :(

In today's presentation, neurologist Oliver Sacks brings our attention not only to Charles Bonnett syndrome, a condition in which people experience lucid visual hallucinations, but to what diseases such as these are starting to reveal about the structure and amazing complexity of the brain, not least of which is the multiplicity of independent information processing centers dedicated to visual perception alone.

Once you realize that so many systems are each doing their own thing, it seems baffling that their cumulative output is experienced by the mind as a seamless and coherent whole, doesn't it?

The fortunate non-participatory nature of Charles Bonnett's syndrome is partly explained by the absence of activity in the amygdala, but that absence of activity may also turn perfectly normal perception into the haunting fear that your loved ones may have been replaced by impostors, as V.S Ramachandran explains in this fascinating presentation.

Check out Living without memory, the case of Clive Wearing, a documentary with Oliver Sacks about one of the most bizarre cases of amnesia ever recorded.

Finally, if you suffer from intensely religious experiences, that might be an indication of temporal lobe epilepsy, so have yourself checked out :)
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The Confession

The culture wars concerning religiosity and secularism are being waged all over the place. The religious argue that atheism is morally bankrupt without God as an objective basis for morality; atheists argue that believers are missing the rational part of the evolved brain; and agnostics keep trying to reconcile the two camps, revealing in the process their bleeding heart hippie wimpiness and lack of conviction. It's a mess...

Still, as the following short film hilariously demonstrates, there is no reason why the lack of belief in a deity should stop one from understanding, and exploiting, the utilitarian aspects of religious belief :)

There's your assignment; go get some phone numbers! :)
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What We Still Don't Know - Are We Real?

The scientific and philosophical progress of the past four centuries seems to have consistently undermined the notion that we have been created by God, a benevolent, omniscient and omnipotent intelligent designer (just remember, your biological sewage system runs through your fun parts :p), but this is all based on the assumptions that we are real and that we inhabit the only existing universe.

The first half of today's documentary, narrated by Lord Martin Rees, president of the Royal Society and author of books such as Six Numbers: The Deep Forces that Shape the Universe, explores the famous anthropic principle.

The anthropic principle is the idea that the numerical constants governing the physical laws that govern our universe seem suspiciously and improbably well tuned to evolve life and intelligent creatures such as ourselves. If any of those numbers were just slightly different, the universe as we know it could not exist. Could this mean that God exists? Believers certainly think so, but then again, they'll believe just about anything :)

Considering the logical consequences arising out of the anthropic principle, the second half of the documentary explores the implication that, based on what we know about our own intelligence, our very existence might actually be a simulation created by some intelligent agency not bound by the laws that constrain our existence, and that this simulation could be perfectly consistent with the coherence of our scientific experience of the world.

I think the simulation hypothesis would also explain why the god of the Old Testament is obsessed with people worshiping it: it's really some sexually deprived, socially awkward and insecure nerdy kid sitting at home playing with his super computer :)

But seriously, either we've constructed a logical but preposterously unrealistic argument, or you may really be living in something like The Matrix, and there's a good chance the latter might be true, as you are about to see.

Of course, what no one dares to claim is that this might be the only existing universe, and that, as improbable as it is, we just happened to hit the lottery, and that's why we are here talking about it...

Still, regardless of what the anthropic principle may tell us, there is a possibility that we are living in some sort of Matrix, as this chapter, written by Nick Bostrom (the philosopher in the documentary above), from More Philosophy and The Matrix suggests:



Check out the documentary The Matrix and Philosophy: Return to the Source to blow your mind some more.
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SNL - Why Joe Wilson Yelled "You Lie!"

You probably think congressman Joe Wilson is a racist douche bag for disrupting Obama's healthcare address to Congress last week with his unexpected outburst, but what you may not really understand is why he acted the way he did. Saturday Night Live has the inside scoop.

And they also benefit from James Carville's maniacal Skeletor wisdom :)

I'm sure Wilson's support for the confederate flag has nothing to do with his racism or his hatred of immigrant minorities... that's just a funny coincidence :)
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Mt. Wilson Observatory's Close Encounter

As you may or may not know, the recent seasonal fires in Los Angeles in the last few weeks came dangerously close to the famous observatory sitting atop Mt. Wilson. This is the very same facility from which, in 1929, astronomer Edwin Hubble made the revolutionary discoveries that the universe is expanding, and that it's doing so at an accelerating rate. Needless to say, these discoveries set the stage for some of the most interesting scientific work of the 20th century.

The following time-lapse video captures Mt. Wilson's close encounter with the threatening fires over the course of four days.

It should go without saying that firefighters deserve great credit for having managed to prevent what could have otherwise been a historic scientific tragedy.
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Justice - What Is the Right Thing To Do?

Episode 1. I don't know if you've ever taken an Ethics class --and I admit I may be biased both because I had great professors and because now I teach the stuff-- but an ethics course is one of the greatest and most deeply formative experiences of one's intellectual life.

All philosophy can shake you to your core, and subjects like metaphysics, epistemology or philosophy of mind do so primarily through their novelty and weirdness, since they are not the kind of stuff that lay people tend to think much about in their quotidian musings. Have you ever asked yourself what the meaning of meaning is, or whether you can think beyond the limits of thought? See?

Ethics, on the other hand, can shake you to your core precisely because it takes what you think you already know, pushes it to its logical limits, and then presents you with a world so strange and alien you barely recognize it as your own creation.

The following video, which gives you a great sense of what I've just argued, presents two short introductory lectures on justice and ethics delivered by Professor Michael Sandel, from one of the most popular courses taught in Harvard University. That's right, you can now get a Harvard education for free on this blog :)

Learn more about what the fascinating trolley thought experiment tells us about how the mind works (in this RadioLab episode).

Professor Sandel recently delivered the BBC Reith Lectures, focusing on the concept of citizenship and a politics of the common good. Follow the link to listen to them.

Episode list: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.
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What a Wonderful World... of Shadows

I have had a very long and busy couple of days of work, during which I've managed to sleep for about two hours, so I'm pooped and in dire need of some rest.

Sorry folks, no documentary or interesting talk today. Instead, why not sit back and enjoy this impressive hand shadow show accompanied by some classic Armstrong?

If you want more awesome tunes, check out the music tag.
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Connections - The Trigger Effect

Our lives depend on it, and yet, most of us take technology for granted as a given and are embarrassingly ignorant about how it works. If you imagine for a few minutes what the world and your own life would look like without electric power, as you can see in today’s video, you’ll soon realize that you almost can’t do it. It is ubiquitous, and yet unbelievably fragile...

In this fascinating documentary series, historian James Burke traces the technology of modernity back to its often surprising ancestral roots, and beautifully reveals in the process not only the law of unintended (and unexpected) consequences but the serendipitous twists and turns that have determined the fate of the world as we know it today.

In this first episode, he eloquently argues for a single human invention that opened the floodgates to the amount of innovation we have thousands of years after its modest invention. Dare to guess what it is? I’ll give you a hint: it’s not the wheel :)

For a moment there, I thought he was going to get all Ortega y Gassett on us, but alas :)
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The Human Body - First Steps

Continuing with his investigation of The Human Body, Lord Robert Winston explores today the process of birth and the first few years of a baby's life and its development. You probably think babies are cute and adorable, of course, and, as you'll see, that's partly because babies have evolved the ability to manipulate a sort of mind control over adults which is virtually irresistible. Just try not smiling to a baby who smiles at you, try not getting restless when a baby cries, or just try speaking to a baby like you would an adult... impossibly hard!

One of the many interesting things about babies is their display of instinctual reflexes that point directly to our evolutionary ancestry. Next time you see a newborn, hold your index fingers up to its hands, and when it grasps, slowly lift your fingers. Newborn babies have the ability to carry their own body weight. We get that from our monkey/ape ancestors :)

But their development goes beyond physical strength and the ability to walk and focus their eyes. As their little brains develop, their minds undergo changes that are just baffling, effortlessly learning cognitive abilities that we still don't have a clue how to program into artificial intelligent machines: language and syntactical rules, norms of social behavior, self-awareness, strategic lying and theories of mind.

To watch the entire documentary, download the Veoh Web Player.

Check oure more of The Human Body.
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The Mark Steel Lectures - Descartes

Rene Descartes is indubitably (get it?) one of the most influential and ambitious thinkers of all time. Look at him looking all French... :)

One of the contributions for which I admire him most is the unprecedented unification of algebra and geometry into analytic geometry, demonstrating for the first time that geometric figures can be represented algebraically and that algebraic equations could be represented graphically (you might also know him from the cartesian coordinate plane... he invented that shit!). Without his contributions to mathematics, it is arguable that Leibniz and Newton could not have developed the calculus.

Descartes also made important contributions to the scientific study of light, discovering the law of refraction and the optics of the eye. He also contributed to our knowledge of anatomy and physiology, discovering, for instance, the workings of the nervous system. Oh yeah, did I mention he is also considered the father of modern philosophy? How many other people do you know who could put that on their resume? He had this silly notion that knowledge claims should be subject to scrutiny and supported by proof... how adorable :)

In this amusing lecture, comedian Mark Steel traces the philosophical legacy of this genius, touching on everything from Descartes' thoughts on methodological skepticism to his intellectual separation from religious dogma, to the Cartesian Circle, the problem of other minds, psycho-physical dualism (what a nightmare that's been...) and much more.

Where can I get an Ezee cup? :)

Related videos:

How Descartes' Meditations inspired The Matrix.

Mobius Transformations over the Reimann Sphere.

More funny Mark Steel Lectures.
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Conspiracy Theories 'Ridiculous,' Says Al Qaeda

I love conspiracy theories... and by love I mean hate. Conspiracy theories are attempts to desperately twist logical and reasonable thinking and support it with improbable and circumstantial evidence... well, when there is actual support provided. Usually, the form of their arguments goes like this: "we don't know who/what/how, but we have a suspicion of sinister forces at work, therefore we do know who/what/how, and it's okay that we don't have much evidence to back up our claims, we make up for our lack of data with plenty of wild conjectures and irrelevant distractions that are sure to send you on wild goose chases."

Their claims are unfalsifiable because no matter how much evidence one may use to refute them, conspiracy theorists have incorporated such evidence against them as part of the conspiracy itself, and any witness whose testimony contradicts their nutty accusations is also seen as an 'insider' who would 'obviously' say such things in order to keep the secrecy of the conspiracy going. In other words, they've poisoned the well, and then expect us to drink from it...

And as The Onion shows in the following hilarious video clip, NOTHING will ever convince them and change their stubborn minds...

Incidentally, what they've never understood is that LOLCats are behind everything!

And if you're curious why terrorists hate us... this is why :)
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Americans Observing 9/11 by Trying Not to Masturbate

Oh, I can just imagine all the hate mail and offensiveness this blog entry is going to produce... and yet I can't help myself. Unfortunatley for everyone else, I'm not above this sort of thing :)

But let's keep in mind that, well, just admit it: you know, absolutely, that it would be wrong to... er... salute your proverbial flag (or tickle your kitty) on this serious day of commemoration, reflection and mourning, and you would probably admonish anyone who would be so inappropriate and indecent as to indulge and take matters into their own hands, but secretly, you know you totally want to... and now the guilt is piling up...

Luckily for you, The Onion is here to help.

Of course, the following Onion headline indicates masturbation can be patriotic... as American as apple pie... just don't mix them together :)


You can't wait till tomorrow, can you? :)
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Penn & Teller - The Vatican is Bullshit!

It should come as no surprise to anyone that when magicians and big time skeptics Penn & Teller decided to do a show on all things Bullshit, the Pope and the Vatican would eventually find their way into that list.

It's not hard to see why: the Catholic Church has found itself smack in the middle of corruption controversies for centuries, ranging from meddling in people's private lives, telling them what sexual practices to abide by lest they be excommunicated and consigned to eternal hell fire, or for condemning and punishing scientists (think Galileo) who make discoveries about how the world really works, to the torture practices of the Papal Inquisition and their collaboration with Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. It just warms your heart... :)

Of course, while loudly proclaiming their pro-life and sanctity-of-life stance on questions of abortion and stem cell research, they think it preferable that an HIV infected person should pass the deadly virus to their spouse instead of using a condom that could save the life of that spouse (because, let's face it, you can't have sex unless you're married... or unless you're a Catholic priest and the sex you have is with little boys).

The sexual abuse of children, of course, is despicable in its own right, and perhaps it would be unfair of me to cast blame on the institution as a whole for the degenerate acts of depraved individuals, but when those perverts are institutionally protected and then subsequently unleashed, without warning, on unsuspecting communities from whom they collect their extravagant multi-billion dollar funds (tax free, of course), then the problem is structural and not merely relegated to a few bad apples. The barrel itself is rotten.

But why should I keep ranting when Penn & Teller are here to tell you all about it? (Just click on the 'Close to Play' button below)

And if they're so anti-abortion, what's their problem with gays? That's one demographic guaranteed never to have an abortion...


Oh, you should also see what Penn & Teller think about The Bible :)

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Dolphins - Deep Thinkers?

I recently went to Sea World (where I took the picture on the right), and I was so impressed by the dolphins that I just had to look for something to share with everyone, and what could be better than David Attenborough explaining their incredible mental powers?

Now, I'm not going to sit around and wait for a dolphin to publish a philosophical treatise on the meaning of meaning, or a set of meditations on whether universals precede particulars or vice versa, but there is no denying that in the relatively short time they have been aquatic creatures, they have become one of the most successful species in the sea, totally kicking fish butt :)

This sudden coup has been made possible by their highly advanced intelligence, which is itself a result of their social nature and their need to communicate with one another.

As Attenborough demonstrates in this documentary, however you define intelligence, dolphins are ready to meet the challenge and prove themselves deep thinkers.

And here is a slideshow with a few of the pictures I recently took:

The day they get opposable thumbs, we're done!
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Richard Dawkins: Growing Up in the Universe - The Ultraviolet Garden

Continuing his Michael Faraday Christmas Lectures, Growing Up in the Universe, Richard Dawkins begins by asking a seemingly simple question: what are living organisms (bees, for instance) for?

The question seems so innocent that there is a very long tradition of thinkers who have thought it obvious, not simply that there is an asnswer to such a question, but that they actually knew what the answer was. And it turns out that most versions of the answer have been exceptionally anthropocentric: whatever their purpose, somehow all beings in the universe are there for us. How convenient :)

It should come as no surprise to you that Dawkins doesn't find this sort of answer satisfactory. Instead, he eloquently argues that the purpose of living organisms is given to them by their genes: make more copies of those genes. That's the general point, but of course, the details and support, as well as Dawkins' meditations on the concept of the extended phenotype are primarily what make this lecture fascinating.

As a nice treat, there is an awesome appearance and reading by Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Of course, the question of what the world is for is a very treacherous one, as Douglas Adams himself points out in this funny and thought-provoking excerpt (read by Simon Jones) from a fascinating talk he gave in 1998 about the hydrocentric point of view of a puddle (perfect timing, as I'm currently reading The Salmon of Doubt):

Unfortunately, I think Dawkins himself might be mistaken here, and confusing what is with what the something that is is for... the fact that genes construct complex organisms that perpetuate the existence of such genes doesn't mean that's what organisms are for... it just means that's what they do.

I may have to think about this further, but it seems to me, intuitively at least, that the question of what something is for will always require us to posit an agency or mind to provide that purpose. Without a mind, nothing is for anything. Things just are what they are...

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Rowan Atkinson - Jesus and the Devil

The New Testament is a set of interpretations on the life of Jesus of Nazareth, and a very varied set of interpretations at that, but I think you'll agree with me that none of those interpretations quite compare to British comedian Rowan Atkinson's little take on the miracle attributed to Jesus of turning water into wine.

But why let Jesus have all the fun? The devil also has some tricks of his own...

Now you're torn whether it would be more fun to party with Jesus or the devil, huh?

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Martha Nussbaum on Aristotle

The power of his mind and his inquisitiveness went far beyond what most people are even capable of conceiving. The Greek philosopher Aristotle didn’t simply ask questions, the way regular scientists do, for instance, about how the natural world works and what principles are responsible for its uniformity… he went far beyond this, and consequently investigated the very principles upon which our experience of that world rests (abstract concepts like substance, identity, multiplicity, change over time, essence, matter, etc.), and he also discovered and formalized conceptual rules of thought and reason without which our experience would be inherently incoherent and contradictory.

The breath and depth of his influence was so overwhelming in virtually all intellectual disciplines (philosophy, aesthetics, science, rhetoric, politics, theology, ethics, etc.) that for two thousand years, Aristotle was simply referred to as the philosopher, and his word was basically taken as the definitive truth on any given subject.

In this deliciously thought-provoking discussion, American philosopher Martha Nussbaum discusses the importance and legacy of Aristotle’s philosophy with Bryan Magee

Check out similar fascinating discussions on Plato, Hegel & Marx, Schopenhauer.
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Penn & Teller Saw a Woman in Half

As you probably know, Penn & Teller are no ordinary magicians. Not only do they reveal the tricks up magicians' sleeves (infuriating many in their trade), or the pychological quirks of the mind that make us fall prey to the deception, they are always pushing the envelope and coming up with new signature moves.

If you have ever wondered how the sawing-a-woman-in-half trick virtually all magicians perform is done, wonder no more...

If you're wondering how they did that, I got two words for you: expendable twin :)

Check out more Penn & Teller goodies.

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Patton Oswalt - Religion as Sky Cake

I'm not sure whether comedian Patton Oswalt has been reading Nietzsche's analysis of the slave revolt in morality and/or the geneology of slave and master morality, or whether this is just a fortunate coincidence, but Oswalt delivers a concise and hilarious account of the origin of religion and... it all has to do with cake :)

Hat tip to Chris :)

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What Darwin Didn't Know

Darwin has become an icon of scientific virtue, not only because he sought naturalistic explanations for the biological phenomena around him, as well as the mechanisms through which nature, unaided by some supernatural force or agency, would gradually provide such answers, or because he refused to make his theory public before amassing enough evidence to convince any reasonable skeptic, but because he worked so hard and for so long to test whether his dazzling hypothesis had more than just beauty and logical coherence behind it.

Yet, and this is the paradox, Darwin's theory relied on the faithful assumption of information that Darwin simply did not have. What's more, in some respects, Darwin was fully aware of his ignorance (of the mechanism responsible for heredity, for instance). And yet, for the past century and a half, Darwin's predictions have been borne out by even the most surprising and unanticipated gusts of evidence.

In today's documentary, evolutionary biologist Armand Leroi explores these questions and tickles our minds with challenges to Darwinian evolution, as well as with the possibility of witnessing the birth of the evolution of evolution itself...

Hungry for more Darwin? Indulge yourself...

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